25/1/2003 Saturday

Today I read a book called “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.J. Rowling. It is about a wizard named Harry in his 3^rd year at Hogwarts. Harry blew up his aunt and ran away. He got to Diagon Alley by the Knight Bus and rented a room in a wizards’ hotel and decided to stay there for a week. While there, Harry found his best friends, Ron and Hermione, at Diagon Alley. They bought themselves books and other equipment for the coming year. Haermione bought a cat named Crookshanks who wanted to eat Scabbers, Ron’s rat. When they arrived at Platform 9 ¾, they boarded a train called the Hogwarts Express. They went into a compartment but there was a teacher sleeping in one of the chairs. After a few hours, the train stopped and a dementor came in. Harry fell off his seat, and the teacher, who was Professor Lupin, made the dementor back away and off the train. When they got to Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey told Harry to get into one of the hospital beds. When Harry got out of the hospital wing, the Gryffindors and Slytherins were taking “Care of the Magical Creatures” class. Malfoy got bitten by a hippogriff and went to the hospital wing to get it fixed. His father ordered the beast to be killed. Harry and his friends watched the execution and they felt sad. They went into the Whomping Willow and found the murderer Sirius Black. They found out that Sirius didn’t really kill Harry’s parents but the actual murderer escaped so Sirius still had to be on the run.

9/2/03 Sunday

Today I read a book called “Helen Keller: From Tragedy to Triumph” by Katherine E. Wilkie. It is about a girl named Helen Keller who is blind and deaf. When she was six years old, she locked her mother in the pantry. After an hour, the servant came and unlocked the door. After a few months, a woman named Ann Sullivan came to teach Helen to be obedient. As the years passed, Helen learned a lot of things from Miss Sullivan, whom she called Teacher. When Helen was ten years old, Teacher took her to Niagara Falls. Helen went to a special school for the blind and deaf. She thought the school was fun, especially at Christmas. At Christmas, Helen would tell Christmas stories to the other children. Her father always gave her money for to buy presents for the other kids. When she was thirteen years old, Helen wanted to go to a college called Radcliffe. Teacher said that Helen had to spend years to go there. But when Helen was nineteen years old, she was one of the ninety-five girls to graduate from Radcliffe. In 1935, Teacher died, and Helen was really sad. The next year she visited the blind from other countries. Everyone was proud of her.

22/2/2003 Saturday

Today I read a book called “The Disappearing Floor”. It is about two boys going into a room with no floor. Their names are Frank and Joe Hardy. One day they went exploring and saw a mechanical wolf that scared them. Then they saw a ghost and followed it. The ghost ran but he wasn’t fast enough. Frank caught him and the ghost told Frank and Joe that his name is Nick and his father was called Perth but he died a long time ago. Nick also said that he wanted to find the hidden jewels. The next night they followed a man in a shiny red convertible. The man did a smoke screen and Frank couldn’t see where he was going and they landed in the grass. Frank found a house and Joe looked through the window. There was no floor. When they looked through the window again, the floor was back. They checked to see if any bricks were loose, and there was. They slid the brick out and in that space was a really big jewel. They handed it in to the police and the police gave it to the rightful owner. I liked this book because it was scary and suspenseful.

9/3/2003 Sunday

Today I read a book called “Fantastic Mr. Fox” by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Donald Chaffin. This book is about a fox named Mr. Fox who lived in an underground hole with his wife and four children. Everyday Mr. Fox would steal either a chicken from Farmer Boggis, a duck from Farmer Bunce, or a turkey from Farmer Bean. Today he decided to steal a chicken from Farmer Boggis. The farmers got sick of Mr. Fox staling their animals so they hid in some bushes by the hill where Mr. Fox lived. When they saw him, they used their rifles and shot at Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox’s tail got shot off so he went back home to tell Mrs. Fox to bandage his bottom. Then the farmers decided to surround the hill with their men back at the farms. Bunce and Bean used their tractors to dig up the hill for hours. Since Mr. Fox couldn’t go outside, he and the children dug to Boggis’s chicken barn, stole three chickens, dug to Bunce’s giant storehouse, got some bacon, dug to Bean’s secret cider cellar, and stole three jars of apple cider. When Mr. Fox and the children came back home, Mr. Fox invited all his friends to enjoy the feast. The farmers were still waiting outside the hill and they might still be there to this day.

I liked this book because Mr. Fox was very smart.

23/3/2003 Sunday

Today I read a book called “Flash Fire” by Caroline Cooney. This book is about a fire that takes place in California. There are a lot of people in the story and every chapter tells about a different person. The first chapter is about a girl named Danna Press and she thought there was nothing to do and she wanted action. Later on in the book, there is a fire, and everyone is trying desperately to save them selves. When Beau is driving in his car, he helps some people get into his car. These people are Danna, Hall, Elony, Geoffrey, and Elisabeth. Beau stopped the car in front of his house and told the others to wait for him while the fire raced toward them. Hall was getting anxious so he started up the car and drove away from the fire. While that was happening, Mrs. Eight Cars was loading photo albums into her truck. One of the photos caught fire and the whole bow was up in flames. The truck burned and so did Mrs. Eight Cars. Her son Matt got her out of the fire and got the flames away. After that, Matt and Mr. And Mrs. Eight Cars ran. There was more to the book but I didn’t get finished reading it. 

6/4/2003 Sunday

Today I read a book called “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” by J.K. Rowling. This book is about a wizard named Harry Potter who goes to a school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry has two best friends who also go to Hogwarts and they are Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. When Harry was in his bedroom, a house-elf called Dobby tells Harry not to go back to Hogwarts because bad thins are going to happen there. A month later, Harry and Ron and Ron’s family get to Kings Cross Train Station. When Harry and Ron try to walk through the barrier, nothing happens. Ron suggests that they fly to Hogwarts in Mr. Weasley’s flying Ford Anglia. When they arrive at school, they get detention. Then they find out that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and a lot of people get petrified, including Justin Finch-Fletchely, Nearly Headless Nick, Hermione, and Penelope Clearwater, but no Slytherins. One day, Harry sees writing on the wall. It say: The Camber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.” The next day he sees more writing. It says: “Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.” Harry and Ron find a way into the Chamber. If you want to know what is in the Chamber, then read the book.

10/4/2003 Thursday

Today we went on a field trip to Memphis, TN, with other members of the 6^th grade Viva Art classes. We left school at 7 o’clock and it took about 3 hours to get there. On the way to Memphis, we watched a movie called “The Princess Diaries”. The movie was about a girl who finds out that she is a princess. When we arrived, Mrs. Pollard put us in groups. I was in a group with my friends Jazmine Lindsey and Blake Reed. Our team leader was Blake’s mother. After that, we went to the Brooks Museum. A tour guide came and led us through the museum telling us about the artworks. Later, we got to do some abstract art. I did a picture of a flower. When it was getting near lunchtime, we ate outside of the museum. After we finished, eating, we got back onto the bus and headed toward the Pink Palace Museum. When we got there, my group went to the gift shop first. I purchased a set of playing cards, a ladybug toy, a cow toy named Mookie, and a stretchy toy. Then we went to the whale exhibition. While there, we learned about whales and dolphins. Then we went to an exhibit about early America. Later, we watched an IMAX movie called “Mt. Kilimanjaro: To the roof of Africa”. It was about six people climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. When the movie ended, we got back onto the bus and went home. On the journey back, we watched two movies: “The Lion King” and “Space Jam”. We arrived back in Starkville at about 7:10 pm. Dad took me the rest of the way home. I thought this field trip was really fun, and expensive.

25/5/2003 Sunday

Today I read a book called “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling. This book is about a wizard named Harry Potter who goes to a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry called Hogwarts. One day, Harry’s best friend, Ron Weasley, invited him to the Quidditch World Cup. He also invited their other best friend, Hermione Granger. The two teams that were competing were the Irish and the Bulgarian teams. At the end of the game, Ireland won by ten points. After a few weeks, all the students went to Hogwarts and at the start-of-year feast, Professor Dumbledore announced that this year Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament. The other two schools to compete were Durmstrang and Beaxbatons. When October arrived, the students from the other schools came to Hogwarts. Dumbledore told them that they must be at least 17 years old to enter their name into the Goblet of Fire. The competitor from Beaxbatons was Fleur Delacour, Durmstrang-Viktor Krum, and Hogwarts-Cedric Diggory. Then, the fire from the goblet turned red again, which indicates that another name must be pulled out. The name on the parchment said: Harry Potter. Mr. Bagman told the champions that there would be 3 tasks for them to do. They were as follows: 1) Get past the dragon to retrieve the golden egg, 2) Save someone in the lake, and 3) Get to the middle of a maze and touch the Triwizard Cup. To find out what happened during the tasks, read the book.

7/6/2003 Saturday

Today I am going to tell you what is in the Chamber of Secrets. When Harry and Ron find out that Hermione got petrified, they find her holding a piece of paper. It told them what was in the Chamber and they also found out that Ron’s sister opened it and was taken by Tom Riddle. The teachers told Gilderoy Lockhart to kill the monster and save Ginny (Ron’s sister). Lockhart didn’t know where the entrance of the Chamber was. Harry, Ron, and Lockhart found out that the Chamber was in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. They opened the drain and went inside a tube. When Lockhart tried to perform the Memory Charm on Ron, the wand backfired and Lockhart lost his memory. Harry went into the Chamber and saw Tom Riddle standing over Ginny. Riddle told the basilisk to kill Harry, but then Fawkes the phoenix and the Sorting Hat came to help. He pulled a sword from the hat and killed Riddle and the basilisk. Then, Harry, Ron, Lockhart, and Ginny went back to the bathroom. Harry told Professor Dumbledore the story. It was a happy ending.